While it is encouraging to see that poverty and material deprivation figures have decreased, statistics on poverty can never be something to boast about.

Figures published yesterday by the NSO, coming from the EU-SILC survey, paint a very grim picture of the situation on the ground.

The figures show that over 10,000 people cannot afford the most basic items. Over 14,000 cannot afford two pairs of shoes, and 11,000 can’t replace worn out clothes with new ones.

7.2% of respondents said they cannot go out for a drink or a meal once a month.

11.3% cannot spend small amounts of money on themselves.

15.8% of households would not be able to settle an unexpected financial expense of €650 and over.

One in five persons said that their household had been in arrears on mortgage or rent payments, or utility bills which, as this newspaper explained last Sunday, have shot up alarmingly because of the way they are being calculated.

8% are classified as materially deprived, and 3.3% are severely deprived.

Yes, the numbers have gone down, which cannot be anything but positive, but what matters is that thousands of parents still struggle to provide for their families.

The government was yesterday quick to point out towards the decrease, telling us in great detail how bad the situation was under the previous PN governments.

For a start it is shocking that more than 5 years after climbing to power, this administration is still using past PN administrations as its benchmark.

Secondly, it continues to treat people as numbers.

Behind every statistic there is a person, a family, and the picture in many cases is not a bright one.

Another worrying aspect of the survey findings is that females always tend to be more disadvantaged than males. The survey does not delve into the reasons why, but it is clear that the country still has a long way to go to reach equality.

In the ongoing discussion about IVF and surrogacy the government is arguing that the proposed law is all about equality. But this survey shows that there are other areas of equality that have to be tackled urgently.

Also of note are the main concerns mentioned by households. Noise generated by neighbours, traffic or businesses tops the list, which is not surprising given that the number of vehicles on the roads keeps climbing and that there is a construction site practically on every street.

Next is pollution, grime and other environmental problems. Again, no surprise there.

Violence, crime and vandalism have one in every ten people worried, which is also not some big revelation, given the rising crime (especially in some northern harbour district localities) and the dwindling faith in the police force.

So while the government should be encouraged by the overall improvement it should also be humbled by these results and realize that behind every number is a family going through tough times, not only financially but also in terms of the environment it is living in.

These numbers, not the data from past PN administrations should serve as the government’s benchmark to improve the daily lives of those who are not raking in thousands upon thousands from lucrative government contracts and consultancies, from building tall high rises or from selling Maltese passports.